PHILADELPHIA — A gun store owner shot and killed a man trying to break into his store amid looting concerns across the city, according to local news reports.
NBC Philadelphia and 6ABC report that the shooting took place at the Firing Line Gun Range and Gun Store in the Pennsport section of the city Tuesday morning.
The shop owner said he saw three or four men trying to break into the store on the surveillance video.
"One of the individuals that broke into the property, pointed a handgun at (the store owner)," Chief Inspector Scott Smalls told FOX 29. "And that's when the store owner fired his own weapon -- striking the one perpetrator at least one time in the head and he collapsed, dropping his gun between his legs."
When police arrived on the scene, they found a man in his 20s on the second floor of the shop with a gunshot wound to his head. Medics pronounced him dead on the scene.
Philadelphia police said the other men that tried to break into the store ran off.
Reports claim the robbers used wire cutters to break through the gate and enter the store.
Officials said another person arrived at an area hospital with a gunshot wound to his shoulder, according to 6ABC. However, police are unsure if this shooting is connected to the incident at this time.
Retailers, large and small, have closed some of their stores across the country because of disruptions caused by the widespread street protests over the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
Floyd, who was black, died while being arrested by Minneapolis police for suspicion of passing a counterfeit bill on May 25. Cellphone video showed that a white officer, Derek Chauvin, pressed his knee into Floyd’s neck for several minutes while Floyd, who was handcuffed, pleaded for air and eventually stopped moving. Chauvin now faces murder and manslaughter charges. The three other officers who took part in the arrest were fired but haven't been charged.
